AXPONA spike question KHORN

[JRS94]

I went to AXPONA last month. Pretty impressive EXPENSIVE gear. I attended a couple talks where the big deal was spiking speakers so they were "floating" rather than sitting flat on the floor. Any one do this with KHORNS? Spikes and saucers to keep from boring a hole in the floor. Just curious. Also enjoyed the speaker wire stands to keep the inch thick speaker wires from touching the floor. 

Thanks in advance. 

[glens]

I thought the rationale for the spikes was to securely couple the speaker to the floor, thus preventing any motion which could smear the sound due to changing source locations.  I'd "buy" that notion, but I don't sit with my head in a vice so I doubt I'd hear the difference.  And seriously doubt any benefit could possibly be derived using them on something like a corner horn in any event.

 

There is no real rationale for either of the parts in the second joke scenario.

[jimjimbo]

36 minutes ago, glens said:

I thought the rationale for the spikes was to securely couple the speaker to the floor, thus preventing any motion which could smear the sound due to changing source locations.  I'd "buy" that notion, but I don't sit with my head in a vice so I doubt I'd hear the difference.  And seriously doubt any benefit could possibly be derived using them on something like a corner horn in any event.

 

There is no real rationale for either of the parts in the second joke scenario.

Bravo

[pzannucci]

1 hour ago, glens said:

I thought the rationale for the spikes was to securely couple the speaker to the floor, thus preventing any motion which could smear the sound due to changing source locations.  I'd "buy" that notion, but I don't sit with my head in a vice so I doubt I'd hear the difference.  And seriously doubt any benefit could possibly be derived using them on something like a corner horn in any event.

 

There is no real rationale for either of the parts in the second joke scenario.

There can be a reason to decouple some speakers for the reasons you said (mainly).  As speakers get heavier, it is of less benefit unless on a thick carpet.

For a k-horn, the coupling boundaries, floor, walls, tophat, are to be coupled for form a good horn unless of course the back and bottoms are enclosed.  Raising the k-horn up off the floor other than the slight bit offered by the button feet or such, will reduce the coupling by the distance.  The same reason they put insulation on the back plate, to fit the horn into the local coupling surfaces better.  

[richieb]

1 hour ago, glens said:

but I don't sit with my head in a vice 

 

=== I believe it is a well known “fact” told throughout the audio community if you are listening to Klipsch speakers that indeed your head is in a vice — 

[HDBRbuilder]

5 hours ago, JRS94 said:

I went to AXPONA last month. Pretty impressive EXPENSIVE gear. I attended a couple talks where the big deal was spiking speakers so they were "floating" rather than sitting flat on the floor. Any one do this with KHORNS? Spikes and saucers to keep from boring a hole in the floor. Just curious. Also enjoyed the speaker wire stands to keep the inch thick speaker wires from touching the floor. 

Thanks in advance. 

That is so wrong for so many reasons!!  Do a forum search for "grippers"

 

With something like K-horns, they NEED to be coupled...the room corner is a THREE-PLANE extension of the bass HORN LENS...walls and floor!  The heavier the speaker the more it needs to be coupled, providing the bass IS PRODUCED FROM THE BOTTOM PORTION OF THE CABINET!  Spikes are for use on CARPETED FLOORS to reach through the carpet and its pad to the floor underneath, to COUPLE the speaker to the floor!  The only benefit derived from "floating" a speaker is if it is bass-bottom-end shy to begin with...then you can get reverb from the corner behind the speaker to make it appear that the bass is deeper...but with fully-horn-loaded speakers, floating them is folly!  Almost nothing goes out the back of the speakers for reverb/reflective purposes, since horns are DIRECTIVE...with everything going out the front!

 

[glens]

1 hour ago, richieb said:

2 hours ago, glens said:

but I don't sit with my head in a vice 

 

=== I believe it is a well known “fact” told throughout the audio community if you are listening to Klipsch speakers that indeed your head is in a vice — 

 

My head-vice is fully mobile and articulating so it comfortably moves with me no matter how or in which direction I'm holding my head at the moment.  It's weightless and invisible (the vice, not my head).

[Schu]

How about no...

[Shakeydeal]

I've always been a big believer in spiking speakers for focus, clarity and improved bass response. But even if one wanted to spike klipschorns, I'm not sure how you could. You have to spike the speakers when they are in their permanent position. Not easily done with a 175 lb. speaker shoved in a corner. And for me it's more of a convenience issue. I keep mine on furniture sliders for ease of access to the drivers and xovers. So whatever trade off I  am making by not spiking the khorns is one I'm willing to live with. But most every other speaker I have owned used spikes.

 

Shakey

[Schu]

Frequencies/waves move faster thru a solid than they do thru a gas...

[glens]

Spiking the cabinet shouldn't improve bass response.  My notion about that is two-fold.  First, if there's not a solid (shape-wise) connection to the floor, the waves will have to jump a gap and energy will be lost in so doing.  Much better to have a continuous surface to follow all the way to the floor where they can expand uninterrupted.  Second, if your cabinet itself is vibrating so much that solidly transferring those vibrations to the floor helps the bass, you've got problems that can be addressed in better ways than spikes.  Second-part-b, if your floor is doing anything in terms of transmitting those (spiked) vibrations to the air, you've got problems that can be addressed in better ways than spikes.

[Shakeydeal]

Quote

Spiking the cabinet shouldn't improve bass response.

 

And interconnects shouldn't sound different, and yet they do.......

[PrestonTom]

I think the arguments are fairly tenuous.

Do you really think the sound pressure is impacted by whether the cabinet is somehow coupled to the floor (vibration)? Let's not go to extreme examples ....

[Shakeydeal]

22 minutes ago, PrestonTom said:

I think the arguments are fairly tenuous.

Do you really think the sound pressure is impacted by whether the cabinet is somehow coupled to the floor (vibration)? Let's not go to extreme examples ....

 

Not sure if that question was directed at me or not. But in any event, I never speculated about the sound pressure being changed by spiking a speaker to the floor.

 

 

[kevinmi]

I'd like to see a video of someone attempting to spike their KHorns.

[Shakeydeal]

7 minutes ago, kevinmi said:

I'd like to see a video of someone attempting to spike their KHorns.

 

Yeah, that would be good for a laugh or two.......

[Shiva]

I video I landed on some time ago might be interesting for this thread and for entertainment.

 

 

 

 

[kevinmi]

What I saw on that video was vibrations from someone rapping on the speaker cabinet, or stomping on the ground. I didn't see any actual music being measured coming out of the cabinet and the effects of stomping/rapping while it is being played. Maybe I should quit smacking my speakers while they are playing?

[glens]

But with the "podium", the tweeter moving forward could cause the cabinet to move backward instead (and the other way around) with the result being no sound emanating from the tweeter dome, but from the face of the cabinet instead.  No thanks!  

[JohnA]

Every few years, it seems, there is a new, different reason to put spikes under speakers.  How do you know what the real reason is?